Bike Riding Virgin

What type of bike you want depends where you plan to ride it. On the streets - get a road bike. Hiking trails - mountain bike.

Bikes depreciate like cars but hold up better, so used bikes are a great value. If you have a friend who knows about this stuff use Craigslist, of not go to a shop that deals in used bikes so you'll get some assurance and warranty.

The most important thing is that it fits you.

A lot of cyclists used to be runners, and do just fine on the bike.

i bought my first bike about 15 years ago, out of fury because rheumatoid arthritis made walking and standing a pain in the . . . feet. i did ride a lot when i was a kid, but it was the first bike i'd ever been on as a grownup. so my thoughts:

- it's more of a drip-feed kind of way to lose weight unless you change other things in your life. otoh, i just started bike commuting without the changes, and one of my son's baseball coaches embarrassed himself to death when the new season started by involuntarily calling me 'hot' like something completely unexpected had happened during the year so i guess . . . idk.

- personally, riding a road bike would have been beyond me at first, and i still feel uncomfortable with the steeper angle and those dropped handlebars. i don't think i'll ever be as safe as i should be with that kind of geometry. i ended up in the 'hybrid' niche once i'd ridden enough to know what i preferred. i have a louis garneau urbania and i'm on my third or fourth jamis coda, if the specific brands interest you. these would have been good starter bikes for me too, but after doing the huge shop a couple of times i think that is very much a matter of personal preference.

- i'm not a fan of cheap bikes. at all. on the other hand, my first two or three bikes were bought almost blind and two of them were from sportchek and cost about 125 (one got stolen, and i got mad and stubborn and went and bought another one on the same day). dropping a lot of money before you've had time to work out your preferences isn't a great thing either. i guess my suggestion is that you learn the most about what works for you when you learn the hard way. and in those terms, cheap forms of 'the hard way' are better than expensive ones. visiting a couple of real bike shops can help to jump-start the process though. my first shopping trip was a nightmare as i didn't even know the terms or the concepts that i was groping for, but it did totally eliminate a few ends of the spectrum for me. no armstrong-wannabe road bikes for me, and none of those upright dutch-grandmother tank things either. and gears. me and my joints need a huge number of gears.

- on riding in general: terror is understandable when you start out. road sense comes with experience, so don't let fear stop you. but maybe stay within the limits of where you feel safe to start with. experience itself tends to widen those lines organically. big things that help: stay visible, get familiar with the road rules etc where you live, and helmet helmet helmet.

Everyone in my family rides a hybrid style. You can ride on roads and paths, but I wouldn't recommend technical trails. They're comfortable and can accommodate various racks and baskets if you're interested in running errands. Here's mine in its new winter home -- on the enclosed porch on a trainer set-up.

I've just taken up cycling again to complement my running too. I got a Pendleton Brooke hybrid bike which was under £200. I have tested it on both roads and light trails, up and down hills, and it managed it all fine. Longest ride so far was only 15 km so can't comment on how comfortable it'll be on long jaunts but it was fine on the shorter stuff.

When I first started riding, I dusted off my old hybrid that I used to use in college to commute with as I didn't have a car. My biggest issue was with it was that the more I got into it, the more I really wanted to start doing cycling events and whatnot and the hybrid was just too heavy and clunky for me to really do anything, or at least to do anything very efficiently.

My first bike purchase was a cyclocross bike...I bought it because I wanted more performance, but I also wanted versatility as I live in a semi rural area with a lot of dirt singletracks, etc. I also liked that it has places where I can attach racks and saddle bags for commuting. I still use it a lot when I'm wanting to go ride around in the dirt and I use it for trailering my kiddos and for the occasional work commute, but ultimately I upgraded to a carbon road bike as I was mostly riding road and doing endurance events.

Road bikes can vary from pure racers (pretty uncomfortable) to endurance specific, which is what I have. My positioning isn't quite as aggressive as a true racer and it is designed to be more comfortable on less than optimal road surfaces and to be more comfortable on long rides because I'm a bit more upright. I could slam the head tube if I so desired, but as of yet I haven't had any reason to do that.

Great advice from @canadianlbs. Also second (or third, or ??) the recommendation of a hybrid. My go-to bike is actually a touring bike which, for me, is everything I'm looking for from a bike. Use it for work-commuting, weekend/evening errands, and some road riding.

I had to downsize from 4 bikes :-( and the touring bike was the one I chose to keep.

I second paying attention to the length of the top tube. I'm 5'3" with a short upper body and for years rode in pain from stretching to reach the brakes. I finally broke down and bought a women's specific trek with a shorter top tube and slightly smaller wheels, and I can't tell you what a difference it's made. Have fun with it - when you get into the zone (whatever your zone is) it's utterly exhilarating